Gelding an older stallion UPDATE#18

[Amoroso]

Howdy folks - looking for opinions as I have ZERO experience with gelding an older stallion.

Looking at new horses, and I have one in mind that I really like - he fits the bill exactly, very nice undersaddle and in hand. Except, he is a 14 year old stallion - nice horse but I don’t want a stallion so if I consider him, he’d be gelded.

Spoken with my vet, gelding is no problem, slightly higher risk of bleeding out due to the larger vessels and slightly higher recovery time. Overall, not a really risky procedure. I’m comfortable enough with that.

He is good with geldings and other stallions, gets turned out into the field with geldings every year. Has covered mares live so he knows what he is doing.

Anyone have any experience they could share? Will he settle around mares or am I left with stallion behavior for the rest of his life?

Thanks in advance!

[SBH]

My friend was given a 9 year old TB stallion that she literally had gelded on the way home. We turned him out by himself for a few weeks and kept him away from mares for a while but he was never any problem whatsoever. Now, he has the most wonderful puppy dog attitude and would crawl up in your lap if he could. He is usually turned out with geldings but for a while he was turned out with my mare when we needed her to have an easy going buddy and he has also been a babysitter for my yearling filly. He has never shown any stallion tendencies.

[Sonesta]

I’ve had experience with quite a number of older stallions being gelded. For the most part, it was great. They quiet down and become nice geldings.

We did have one 10 year old that had some post op problems and had to have emergency surgery when his intestines tried to come out through the opening, but he ended up being a fine gelding.

One who was heavily used for breeding did remain a bit studdish in his behavior around mares in heat, but even so, he was not a problem.

And we never turn males (whether gelded or not) out with mares, so we never had to deal with a former stallion trying to take over a group of mares.

I say go for it!

[Laurierace]

I had a 6 year old gelded standing at the track. About an hour later he blew a crimp. We saved him but it was a nightmare I would never risk again. Do it lying down and have the vessels tied off, not crimped and you should be ok.

[Megaladon]

I knew a stallion that was ALL stallion, very macho. He was gelded and became really quiet and was actually much happier. I say go for it!

[MuskokaLakesConnemaras]

I gelded my first stallion at 7. He was a lovely boy before and gelding made him exceptional

[epowers]

I have known stallions who still needed to be treated like stallions post-gelding, but they were both older (8+) stallions who had fairly serious behavior problems AS stallions (not just regular stallion behavior/libido, but charging/aggression to other horses, biting/bullying handlers, rearing while being led, etc). I’ve known several others who made the transition very well, and you would never know they had been a stallion for several years. If the horse is quiet and well mannered before gelding, he should only get better!

[Amoroso]

This horse is absolutely dead quiet, they put all the beginners at the farm up on him…he is just a doll. They have owned him for his entire life since weaning and just quit breeding. I’ve got photos of him packing people through water up to his eye balls. He is a once in a lifetime opportunity in terms of a horse for me that I can enjoy until my youngster grows up. I don’t board at a facility that allows stallions, so I’d take him straight to the vet and they would keep him overnight to watch for bleeding.
My barn has seperate turn out, never together but they can touch over the fence (fence is approx 6 feet). Currently, there are geldings on both sides, but that is never a guarantee.
I’m hoping to go for this

[LauraKY]

One of mine was gelded at 10…he could never be turned out with mares or in a mixed group, but he was fine with geldings.

[arlosmine]

A friend of mine just went through a nightmare gelding experience with an older stallion. His intestines blew out the opening, the second stitches failed…followed by infection, and then months later, a hernia. Whatever you do, do it AT THE CLINIC! If they had done it at the farm, they probably would have lost him with the first complication.

[Chachie]

Definitely go for laying down and tying off. Also make sure your vet is experienced with gelding older stallions because the tissues are older and it can be bloodier, something that could freak out a younger vet.
As far as behavior, well my stallion was gelded at 11 and can still cover and penetrate at 16. We had lots of groundwork to correct pushy stallion behavior, something his previous owners allowed. I can handle him under saddle and on a lead around mares, but as we found out 5 years later mostly segregated from mares, he will still react like a stallion.
I can trust him around kids on the ground, is a cuddles but can not trust him in turnout with mares.

[Anne]

[QUOTE=Chachie;7485334]
well my stallion was gelded at 11 and can still cover and penetrate at 16[/QUOTE]

Many/all geldings can do this; it’s a not an issue that’s unique to late cut horses.

[ticofuzzy]

We have two geldings here who were active breeding stallions for a long time (One was into his teens) and you would never know that either of them had been stallions. We do not turn mares and geldings out together but they do perfectly fine with mares immediately on the other side of the fence.

[cheektwocheek]

It seems as if Bravo has recently been gelded, I don’t know any particulars but he looks happy. I’m expecting a 2014 foal by him… any day now.
http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/gina-miles-hunter-hits-thermal

[bathsheba8542]

Just a suggestion…check with your vets about the research statistics on open vs. closed vs. partially closed (tied off). I think I recall correctly that partially closed resulted in higher percentages of complications. Of course it will vary from horse to horse and with all other factors, but being aware of your choices in advance will be helpful. I also found that recovery time is longer than expected - easily 3-4 weeks before doing anything other than walking around in the field.

[Nancy1]

We had our 13 year old stallion gelded at Wayne Burwash’s a couple of years ago. I left him there for a few days as we are 3 hours from them. He healed fine and went back to living with his dad who is still a stallion. He is much happier, however, I don’t think we’d put him in with mares.

[Roxyllsk]

One farm where I boarded had their stallion gelded at 14. He had some
complications from infection but I think it had more to do with the vet that
actually gelded him than with his age. Anyway he healed up just fine after
a different vet came out and cleaned up the incision site and put him on antibiotics.

He was a very sweet boy before his brain surgery. Never tried putting him out
with mares because he tried mounting another gelding from time to time. It was rather
funny because the ex-stallion was all of maybe 14.2 hands and the other gelding was
almost 17 hands.

[Hollycatt]

My Dutch warmblood was gelded at 6 before I bought him. Along with moving to a new country it stressed him quite a lot and he lost a lot of weight. It wad the best thing to ever happen to him though. He made the transition very well and once moved to a suitable yard was able to be turned out with other horses He had no idea how to speak horse and was bullied initially, but soon learned the ropes and within a month was the leader of his small group of geldings.

Your horse sounds perfect. I would not be put off by gelding him, and it sounds as if he is already used to group turnout. Have fun with him

[Amoroso]

Ok. So I went and rode the stallion this weekend, OMG was he ever a blast… He is rusty, been off for several years just doing the odd trail ride. I had so much fun on this horse, he remembers his reining training, slides, spins, goes through anything…absolutely awesome horse.
But, he is a bit studdy. Not a peep undersaddle, nothing stud like at all. When leading, he wanted to talk to the mares but nothing ill mannered. He simply needed to be reminded that he was working and not breeding.
I’m concerned about the situation at my barn. He’d be taken to the vet clinic, gelded, spend a couple days there and then would come to my barn. Our barn is a stall and paddock combo, fencing is solid up to about 4 feet then chain link with posts up to about 6-7 feet. He wouldn’t be able to get over it at all but I’m worried about him charging the geldings.
He is turned out in the summer with geldings and other stallions and has no issues. But, would try to climb the walls right now if there was a mare beside him. I don’t know if this would go away and if it would be safe to have him beside geldings right after the surgery? He is kept in a round pen by himself for turn out right now.

[Sonesta]

I’d keep him separate for at least 30 days - and with no way to have real contact over a fence or otherwise, to give the hormones a chance to dissipate from his system. 60 days would be even better.

Is there somewhere you can board him temporarily where he can be kept separate?